All major rail routes across south east London and into Kent suffered major disruption on Friday as the snow swept across the region.

Tens of thousands of commuters faced horrendous journeys home.

Southeastern, the UK's busiest operator, warned of major disruption on all its metro and mainline services.

There were Southeastern services going to or from Victoria with commuters instead told to use Charing Cross, Cannon Street, London Bridge and St Pancras stations instead.

Rail bosses advised all commuters to leave for home as early as possible.

As they did so a broken down train at London Blackfriars added to the snow travel chaos.

It affected all First Capital Connect (FCC) and Southeastern services using the station.

There were delays of up to an hour as trains stacked-up behind one another waiting to get through.

Commuters warned delays would continue into rush hour.

There were major delays to London Overground services between Euston and Watford Junction, again as a direct result of the weather.

Forecasters warned the snow could continue until Monday, with at least 3.1 inches falling, but was expected to be heaviest today.

As the first flakes fell during this morning’s rush hour, several schools across London closed early ahead of expected travel disruption and about 70 flights were cancelled at Heathrow.

The Met Office said the most persistent snowfall would be seen today with light snow showers tomorrow and patchy snowfall on Sunday and Monday.

Up to 2.5in (6cm) of snow is expected to fall today alone with the west and north west of London seeing the worst of the bad weather.

Heathrow said the flights had been cancelled primarily because of problems at other airports and it had also extended the length of time between flights for safety reasons.

A spokesman for Heathrow Airport said: “Obviously the snow is affecting the whole country and it just means there’s a knock-on effect here.”

There were also some delays and cancellations at London City Airport and a spokesperson said: “We have plans in place to deal with snow.”

Passengers travelling to Heathrow, London City and Gatwick have been advised to check the status of their flight before travelling.

Across the country, shops were stripped of essential items as panic buyers stocked up in advance of a predicted 40 hours of snowfall.

Shelves were left bare as families snapped up bread, milk and other basics following forecasts of blizzards dumping up to a foot of snow.

Parts of South Wales woke up to 7.9in (20cm) of snow this morning and there were frantic scenes at a Tesco store in the town of Aberdare where hundreds of people turned up after the Met Office issued a rare red warning for the area, meaning travel should be attempted only if absolutely necessary.

Amber warnings, recommending caution and careful planning before venturing out, are in place for the Midlands, North West, South West, Yorkshire and Humber where around 10in (26cm) of snow could fall.

A Met Office spokesman said: “In London, snow will fall on and off for the rest of today and there will be light snowfall all through tomorrow.

“Sunday will be generally dry but snow showers are still expected for the start of the day and further snowfall will be seen on Monday.”

He added with temperatures hovering around minus 1C, the snow was expected to stay on the ground until the early part of next week.

A number of rail companies in the capital cancelled services and some were running a reduced timetable.

At least five schools in Enfield sent children home at midday and more were expecting to close their doors early.